Costa Rica, a tropical ecological paradise
I鈥檓 currently sitting in the airport in Costa Rica, fresh from a yoga retreat and heading back home to Sheep Dog Hollow, the 100-year-old farmhouse we鈥檙e trying to renovate in as green a manner as is economically practical. (Think: from calming, tropical paradise to construction mayhem.)
I confess, I鈥檓 not quite ready yet to tackle the questions that I know are waiting for me 鈥� from timing on when we can start to worries about our fast-draining checking account and whether we can really afford those $7-a-square-foot (that鈥檚 $7 a square foot not including installation or refinishing.
No, in my mind I鈥檓 still hearing the gentle roar of the ocean waves, the morning鈥檚 orchestral array of bird songs, and the rustling of palm fronds in the wind.
And so, since I won鈥檛 get to Sheep Dog to check on progress and attack some of those questions until Wednesday, I thought I鈥檇 just take a moment to reflect on how lovely it is to spend time in a genuine 鈥淏ioGem.鈥�
Yes, Costa Rica is the first country in the world to be designated a BioGem by the . The reason for the designation, says the NRDC, is the government鈥檚 commitment to 鈥渂ecoming the world's first carbon-neutral nation by 2021.鈥�
For years, it鈥檚 also pushed sustainability and eco-tourism and expanded its natural parks to preserve its biodiversity. To say nothing of the fact that Costa Rica one of the hemisphere鈥檚 oldest, most stable democracies, which ranks pretty high in the United Nation鈥檚 and the UN鈥檚 Human Development Index.
Yes, it鈥檚 an extraordinary place.
When you arrive, you experience it in subtle ways. The people have gentleness about them, or, as they say in Spanish, are they are 鈥�mui amable鈥� 鈥� very amiable. The food you buy in the supermarkets, such as the tomatoes, have that sweet, home-grown taste that here in the States you can only get from a home garden.
And then, of course, there鈥檚 the pure air and the abundance of birds, iguanas, and little lizards you frequently see lazing in the sun. Yeah, there鈥檚 heat and dust 鈥� as well as pollution in the big cities 鈥� but compared to the other Latin American countries I鈥檝e visited, it鈥檚 a veritable ecological Eden.
But there鈥檚 another reason the NRDC designated Costa Rica a BioGem: Because it鈥檚 potentially threatened. As the website notes:
Pressures to open coastlines to oil and gas exploration and drilling, and exploit virgin rainforest for timber and mining are ramping up. All too easily, this small nation could be directed down the path seen so often in the tropics; of slash and burn and quick profit.
To help the country stay on its current ecological path, the the Energy and Environment Ministry to identify measures to help the country meet its [goal to be carbon neutral.
The NRDC also just signed an agreement with the national electric utility, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. In collaboration with other Latin American environment agencies, it鈥檚 also launched 鈥渁 rainforest rejuvenation project to plant 30,000 trees to restore a natural rainforest.鈥�
So, as I head back home from that tropical ecological paradise, my worries and questions have been put into a new perspective.
Yes, this green renovation is costing us more in the short term 鈥� in cash and headaches 鈥� but I again realize that if I can do a little bit now to help future generations enjoy the natural beauties of our country as I just have enjoyed Costa Rica鈥檚, I know it鈥檚 worth the cost.
blogs twice a week about her green and budget-friendly restoration of a 1902 farmhouse in Connecticut. Click here to find all her blog posts and articles.
